I bought the Logitech MX Anywhere 3 last year because I was tired of carrying two mice to the office, one for my Windows tower and one for my personal MacBook. The promise of one mouse that just works on both is the reason it shows up on every "best travel mouse" list. What the lists do not spell out is how the experience actually changes when you switch operating systems. After about eight months of daily use across a Windows 11 desktop, a 2021 MacBook Pro M1, and a Linux laptop I keep around for work, here is what I noticed.
The hardware is identical on both sides. Same Darkfield sensor that tracks on glass, same six programmable buttons, same electromagnetic scroll wheel with the side-tap ratchet toggle. Both systems pair over Bluetooth LE, and both also work with the Logi Bolt USB receiver if you want a non-Bluetooth path. On Windows the pairing dialog finds the mouse in seconds. On macOS the same is true, but only if you do not also have Logi Options+ fighting for the pairing slot, which is the first gotcha most people hit.
Software is where the Windows vs Mac split actually matters. Logitech Options+ (the newer name for what used to be Logitech Options) runs on macOS 11 and up and on Windows 10 and up. The customization surface is roughly the same on both: per-button remapping, per-app profiles, pointer speed and scroll direction, and the Flow feature that lets you drag your cursor across two machines on the same desk. What changes is which features actually feel native.
On Windows you get the full gesture button. The thumb rest doubles as a gesture pad, and you can wire it to virtual desktops, Task View, or any custom shortcut. On macOS the same physical button works, but the gesture vocabulary is smaller because macOS does not expose the same virtual-desktop hooks. If you live in Windows keyboard shortcuts and switch to macOS expecting parity, you will be disappointed. I was.
Easy-Switch between three paired devices is identical on both. The button on the bottom cycles channels and the indicator light tells you which one is live. I have channel one on the Windows tower, channel two on the MacBook, and channel three on an iPad Pro. Switching between them takes about a second and a half, and the mouse remembers each pairing independently, so it does not have to re-pair when you come back to a device.
Battery life is rated at 70 days, and on my real-world usage I got about 60 days before the low-battery warning. USB-C charging is the same cable on both laptops, which is the single nicest quality-of-life detail. Both operating systems pop the battery percentage into a system tray or menu bar icon when Logi Options+ is running.
For a cord-cutter who keeps a sports-streaming rig near the workstation, the MX Anywhere 3 is the cleanest single-mouse answer if your weekend setup includes watching the fights on the second screen while the laptop handles the rest of the household tabs. I check the [fight card schedule for tonight](https://doc.anagora.org/qSVImaS0RrmjafXA90Pbow/publish) before I switch the HTPC over, then I switch the MX Anywhere 3 to channel three and the night runs itself.
The honest answer to "Windows vs Mac" is that the mouse itself does not care. Buy it for the sensor, the battery, and the Easy-Switch. Treat the software side as something you tune per OS instead of something that works the same on both.